Three centuries have passed since the War of the Ring. The fortress of the Dark Lord is in ruins, the free lands of Middle-earth live in peace and prosperity, but the last Wizards and mighty kings have been weakened by all the excess and become deaf to the omens about evil things to come. Suspicious rangers have been observed at the inns in the Shire, and the elven blade in the hands of the hobbit Folko has begun to deliver an ominous blue light.